An UnCommon Theory of School Change: Leadership for Reinventing Schools

by Kevin Fahey, Angela Breidenstein, Jacy Ippolito

This book is for educators who believe that schools need to be improved and are hopeful that real change can be achieved. The authors argue that if educators want to create more equitable, socially just, and learner-focused schools, then they need a more robust, transformational theory of school change--an UnCommon Theory. After describing the limits of current school improvement initiatives, the authors explain what is needed to actually engage in deeper school reinvention work. They take a deep dive into the most difficult work that school leaders do: questioning, rethinking, and reinventing the fundamental assumptions upon which our schools are built. The result is a practical book that provides readers with the knowledge and tools needed to do more than just tinker at the edges of school improvement.

Book Features:


Provides a unique conceptual framework (the Deep Dive) that helps educators understand what it takes to challenge the pervasive standards-based school reform model. Advocates for an approach to school reform that brings together adult developmental theory, transformational learning theory, and social change theory. Shares the stories of activist leaders and the strategies, tools, and approaches they have used successfully in a variety of settings. Includes diagrams and graphics that enhance understanding and make concepts memorable.

144 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 19, 2019

Reviews

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Uncommon Theory of School Change: Leadership for Reinventing Schools offers a framework for understanding and managing the complexities of meaningful school change – “reinventing schools” – through the synthesis of leading for adult development, attending to and facilitating levels of organizational culture, and building collective efficacy. The book’s organization supports the accessibility of the authors’ “UnCommon theory,” weaving case studies, structures, and practical moves throughout to illustrate the three stages of their school change process. Of particular value, from my point of view and experience, is the explicit surfacing and management of the types of anxiety that necessarily accompany real structural change. The authors cite how “Schein (2016) describes how deep change happens only when an organization diminishes it learning anxiety and builds the capacity of the organization for complex learning.” And then they provide specific tools, examples in practice, and further resources for doing just that. In many ways a sequel to their 2012 Leading for Powerful Learning, An Uncommon Theory of School Change should be in the hands of every school leader committed to “leadership and school reinvention in order to create a better, more just, more equitable future for each and all of our students.”

[Michael Flores · Rating 4 out of 5]

The authors boldly proclaim that this is a book for activists. A book about, not school improvement, but school reinvention. The book offers some case studies of school reinvention then analyzes these cases through the lens of organizational leadership. It provides not only the stories, bit also a look into how to go about doing this kind of adaptive work. The wisdom offered affirms the messiness and complexity of school reinvention, which is refreshing. To read that there is no one answer or way to reinvent schools, and to read that reinvention is a moral imperative, is affirmation for any brave and empathetic educator working to bring ever more equitable experiences to ever more kids.